In the development of solutions for reducing the radiation risks associated with manned space flight, radiation shielding materials have been developed to protect personnel and equipment from the damaging effects of radiation, including galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). Polyethylene (PE) is a favorable material because it exhibits many high performance properties (i.e., strength, thermal, and optical). However, the use of PE is limited to low temperature applications and to those applications wherein visibility through the polymer is not required, because PE is an opaque polymer.
The incorporation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into polymer matrices has resulted in composites that exhibit increased thermal stability, modulus, strength, electrical and optical properties (Shaffer et al. 1999; Jin et al. 2001; Haggenmueller et al. 2000; Jia et. al 1999; Ounaies et al. 2003, Park et al. 2005, Tatro et al. 2004; Siochi et al. 2003; Clayton et al. 2005). Several investigations have concluded that carbon nanotubes can also act as a nucleating agents for polymer crystallization (Ryan et al. 2004; Cadek et al. 2004, Ruan et al. 2003).
Various processing techniques have been employed to uniformly disperse the nanotubes in an attempt to increase interaction at the polymer/nanotube interface (Shaffer et al. 1999; Jin et al. 2001; Haggenmueller et al. 2000; Ounaies et al. 2003, Park et al. 2005, Tatro et al. 2004; Siochi et al. 2003; Clayton et al. 2005).